Aeroplane.



E, S. BENNETT.

.AEROPLANE APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28, 1911. RENEWED FEB. s, 1912.

1,037, 53, I Patented sa 10,1912.

3 SHEETS-SEBET l.

E. S. BENNETT.

AEROPLANE.

' APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28, 1911. RENEWED PL 3, N

1,037,853 Rammed Sept. 10, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IRE/6252477".- WK, Erax'us A)? Benn 62%;,

E. S. BENNETT.

AEROPLANE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28, 1911. RENEWED FEB. a, 1912.

1,037,853. Patented Sept. 10,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

, Invefiior:

Era/sins ,5, Bennezzj type.

srrA'rEs ERASTUS'S. BENNETT, OF NEW YORK, N.'Y.

PATENT AERQPLANE.

Zo-all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERASTUS S. BENNETT, citizen of the United States, residing at ew .York city, New York, have invented 5 certain new and useful Improvements in Aeroplanes, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in flying machines oi'zthe aeroplane Among the. objects of the invention are the following: 1, to produce an aeroplane that'shall' be practically non-upsettable, and which if upset at any considerable elevation,

will right itself automatically and land lightly right side up; 2, to provide anaeroplane wit-hyan effective ainhrake; 3, to so arrange the air-brake.- that the aeroplane can be halted over a war vessel or any point "where it is desired to-land; and to do this without the necessity of stopping the enrgine; l, toyso arrange the air-brake that it may be edectively employed to change the vertical direction of the aeroplane, at the will of the ()13G1ilt0].,l11 conjunction with a foi'w\a1'cl rudder, or without the forward rudder, in case the latter is ineffective, crip -"-pled ;or entirely missin 5, to so arrange {theair-brakethat when not in useas an airbrake or rudder, itbecomes a par-trot the plane and 21S$1St$111 supportin g the machine 6, tO'PI'OYiClQ large area: of planesurtace withont great width and-thus diminish the.

width of clear space required for starting or alighting; 7,to reduce the angle of ineidenee"' against which aeroplanes are nanny propelled, thus insuring greater speed with the same power, or less power with the same speed '8, t0 construct an aer0-,

4() plane so. that it may glide' from a high point'till near the ground. or any alightnig. rep 111 a ver. tit-a1 line, lightly. and always right side up, shall he prac-.- without was.

I point, and then heniade to d aner's, etc; 10,"t-"o construct the mam. sustaining plane wit Center to'its' sides, andto arrange insrso asto fol-ma number of inter .1 tu dinal troughs, each, when s'uh" s ure," cur\ing downward fro'm 1 its side's'; 11, to-pr'ovide a gasulem-tan-li of largecapacity, placed under the cab or car the cover ha curve upwarditrom tetllungh a tto pres-. center to:

Specification of Letters Patent. .Patented Application mea'xanuary 28, 1911, Serial No. 605,265. Renewed February a, 1912, "germ r 7' ,'3 9,- v

of parts hereinafter descrihed and partieularly set forth in the appended claims The invention isil d by he aid of the accompanying d1 hich}:

Figure I is a side ele V 2"isj a section on line 22 of F ig;l'and' l+ig "3, l

and 5 are views ofa 0 ii w Referring by reference ch'a' i'aetrsijtb be drawing the nnmera s1 'tl e" s stantially upright membersorstandairdsfo me; is

starting purposes, braced by stays or g drawings..

7. designates an upp plane and 8 a lower tween which. is mounte eted upon a yerticalfaXi I ;in advance of't-he nt .tends to assume a p' v longitudinally of them chine. v end of the main frame rudder 10 pivoted upon 1 h ,which is-also in adya I V rudder. I The forward" ndjrear designed t0 be operated cords or Q and 10 respectively 1) asfs' 1ng'o\ e1"suitable guide pulleys asjindic ated, and lonought-unto convenient reach of unseat llfoithziyiator, at which point they prot'ided'jwith ioperatinghandles 1- al P13 so that by'pfulling i p ordownjoi i ire gru l ders an ction to can, lesend orft which a 4 and 15 the former of which is hingedat or to planes e wings may be caused to lie in planes.

coincident with the u J r and lower planes, as indlcated in full mes in Fi 1, or be swun into position at right ang es thereto,

as in icated in dotted lines, thus closing the power space between theplanes completely and atfording an effective air brake tending to retard the forward movement of the machine, and this whether the propeller be in motion or not.

Obviously the brake wings may be adjusted to any position intermediate of the two ositions described whereby a greater or less raking effect may be secured. As the brake wings are capable of independent operation one or the ot er may be used to supplement the forward rudder, or they may be used entirely for steering should the forward rudder become disabled.

The axes of the brake win are preferably located intermediate of t e upper and lower edges, and slightly to one side of the center so that whenopened out they will project above and below the upper ant lower planes, and yet will tend automatically-to return to horizontal position when released. When in such horizontal position it will be seen that they increase or augment the surface area of the upper and lower planes. The operating elements may be provided with any frictional holding or locking means by which they may be held in an position to which they have been ad juste by the operating handles.

16 designates the propeller which maybe of the ordinary or any desired construction and which rotates in an opening in the lower plane of suflicient size to permit free action of the propeller. The lower plane is made in double. concavdconvex form with the convex surface 4 on each side of the axis of the propeller uppermost. This provides twd concave portions beneath the planes onlopposite sides of the axis which take the air from the propeller and cause it to flow backward toward. the rear of the machine. The lower plane surrounding the propeller as it does, serves to prevent any swirling of the alr and gives maximum to the propeller-J The propeller 1.

"mounted on a shaft 17 which is driven by a belt 18 passing bver pulley 17 on shaft 17 and around a pulley 19. on the driving in supporting shaft 19. I prefer to provide two engines 20 and 21 which are shown conventionally and either or both of which may be con nected to the driving shaft by any suitable clutch mechanism indicated conventionally at 20 and 21.

If an aeroplane of any presentknown type-becomes tilted beyond a certain limit the entire weight of' the machine, its engine and operator. is thrown on the edge of the plane which cuts' the air, like a sheet of tin falling vertically with its edge down. There is no counteracting force, no way provided by which the weight may be shifted automatically or otherwise, from the edges to the surface of the laneor the machine righted, and wreck-1s inevitable. In order to avoid this objection I form the upper plane of concavo-convex form with the concave side uppermost. As the main portion of the weight, to wit, the car with its engine and passen ers, and other load. is suspended below this plane andpreferably at a distance about two-thirds of the width of the plane, should the aeroplane on encountering a dangerous air current become tilted to one side or the other and start to fall with the planes edgewise, the curved form of the main plane will cause it to describe an outward -arc tending toward ahorizontal line, adually increasing the resistance of the p ane to the air am causin the car by its greater weight to move aster and the whole machine to right itself automatically. A concave lane is of slightly less supporting power an a true horizontal plane, and to overcome this objection I provide a slight amountof looseness or slack in the cloth or other material of whi h the covering is made, between the longitudinal cleats by which .itis secured to the frame, so that under. normal conditions the cloth assumes the position shown in full lines, which compensates for any loss power due to the concave under face 0 the plane. In falling sidewise the cloth between the cleats would assume the position shown in dotted. lines and be converted into air pockets directly opposed to the downward motion thereby assisting the self righting action. I

The gasolene tanks are shown at 23 as located beneath the floor of tlie car and made in compartment form. They are made of elongated. form so as to cover a large area and their tapered form offer.- mininium resistance to the air. Pressure with n the tanks may be :reated in any suitable manner to cause the gasolene to flow to the engines.

5. Similarly the front rudder may be located wholly within the area bounded. by

the main plane as indicated inFigs. 3 and 4. Having thus described my invention what I-claim is 1. An aeroplane comprising a longitudinally disposed rectangular imperforate supporting plane of concavoconvex form in cross section with 'theconcave side uppermost and wholly exposed, a car of materially less width and length than said plane and supported centrally therefrom at a material distance below the plane, an engine carried by the car, and a propeller below but in proximity to the plane, and means for driving the same from the engine.

2. An aeroplane comprising a longitudinally disposed rectangular imperforate supcarried by the car, and a propeller below form in'cross section, a lower the plane but in proximity thereto and driven from the engine.

3..Anaeroplane having a longitudinally disposed upper plane of concavo-convex longitudinal plane connected thereto of less width than the upper plane and substantially straight in cross section, a propeller having its axis located substantially on a line with said lower plane, a car suspended below the loweiiplane, and an engine carried by said car and having driving connections to said propeller.

4. .An aeroplane'having a longitudinally disposed main supporting frame of substantially concavo-convex form incross section with its convex side downward, a covering material secured to said frame on longitudinally parallel lines said lines, a second with a fullness between straight longitudinal frame below and of less width than said main frame, a covering material secured thereto onlongitudinally parallel lines and having fullness between such lines, a propeller having its axis substantially coincident with said lower plane, a car suspended beneath the lower frame, and a motor carriedby the car and having driving connec-' 'tions to sald propeller.

5. An aeroplane comprising a main supporting plane and suspended car, and an air brake device cooperating with said plane and comprising a tpair of hinged vanes located one above 'j-e other adapted to be brought into a position substantially at Y right angles to said plane to obstruct the passage of air longitudinally beneath said plane, andmeans for operating said yane's singly for vertical steering.

6. An aeroplane comprising a main sup porting plane, a suspended car and engine, and a propeller driven there-from and a hinged air brake member having its pivoted axis substantially in alinement with said plane and intermediate the center and rear end of said plane, and means whereby said air brake member may be inclined for steering purposes and may also be brought into and held in a position substantially at right angles to the main plane and in the path of the air flowing beneath said plane.

7. An aeroplane having upper and lower parallel planes and supplemental planes hinged in proximity to said upper and lower planes, and having their free edges capable of being brought into contact for obstructing the space between said planes.

8. An aeroplane having upper and lower parallel planes and vertical-and horizontal steeringrudders, and supplemental planes having edges hinged in proximity to said parallel planes and extending normally horizontally rearward from their hingedaxis, and capable of being swung towardeach other, and means for operating said supplemental planes either singly or to gether.

9. An aeroplane having upper and lower parallel planes and upper and lower supplemental planes hinged to the respective parallel planes at their rear edges with means for operating them to swing them into inclined position or to bring their free edges into contact, and a rudder pivoted between said planes on a vertical axis, and a second rudder hinged on a horizontal axis at the front intermediate of said planes.

10. An aeroplane comprising parallel horizontally disposed planes the upper of which is continuous and of greater lateral area than the ldwe'ii a car suspended be neath the lower plane, apropeller revolving through an opening in the lower plane, and driving means for said propeller, and supplemental planes or members hinged at the rear ends of said parallel planes with means for controlling the position thereof, said supplemental-planes being capable of being swung simultaneously inward to bring their edges in contact.

In testimony whereof, I atlix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

Francis N. FLETCHER,

JOHN L. BURST. 

